2003 Services

elover_jm

Hi guys....

is there a limit on the amount of server services allowed to run on a single server in a production environment?

ex.. DNS, ACTIVE dir, DHCP, Fileserver on a single server.

royal

There's no limit. Of course you'll need a beefy server to run lots of services. The more users that connect to those resources, the more the server's performance will degrade.

Also, it's not very secure to run all those services on the same system. I know this isn't an answer to your question, but I figured I'd throw this in anyways. Shouldn't increase the attack surface of your DCs by running extra services on them.

sprkymrk

Precisely why I don't like canned solutions like SBS.

elover_jm

ok fine.....

but lets say we have a department with with 50 xp machines how would u best tally the amount of servers needed and the types of service to run on em?

sprkymrk

Well I would have at least 3 servers personally (if it were up to me). One would be the DC (and DNS), one for File and Printer sharing, and the last one for an additional DC with WINS and DHCP. What other services do you need, or this a hypothetical situation? Another scenario would be 2 DC's, one with WINS/DHCP and Exchange and the other with your File and Printers. I just don't like all my eggs in one basket. I do understand that it can be unavoidable in some situations.

SBS jams all of the above, plus a firewall and SQL on the same box. Ridiculous in my opinion.

elover_jm

ok, kool.....

i guess fault tolerance and security is the key issue..........

sprkymrk

elover_jm wrote:

ok, kool.....

i guess fault tolerance and security is the key issue..........

After money...